Wine Weekend in the Granite Belt

For my Mum's 50th last year I wanted to give her something truly memorable, and what could be more special than a weekend away with her wonderful daughter for a wine tasting getaway!

We spent two nights at Cypress Ridge Cottages in Ballandean, about 20 minutes south of Stanthorpe.
On our first day we visited Heavenly Chocolates... which pretty much speaks for itself!
I bought a few goodies including chocolate covered strawberries (real ones, not the lollies!) and white chocolate rocky road with soft gooey turkish delight, marshmallows and peanuts!
They also have a big selection of home made hot chocolates. I sampled the Tiramisu and my mum had the Chilli Chocolate. Absolutely lush on that chilly September afternoon.
On Saturday we headed to the check in desk to be picked up for a tour of the Granite Belt Wineries! Filippos Tours took my Mum and I to about 7 or 8 wineries, where each one provided a tasting of their sweet and dry whites and reds plus dessert wines and ports. Needless to say, by about 1pm we were feeling quite rambunctious and ready for some tasty food!

We stopped at Robert Channon Wines for a quick tasting of their gorgeous Verdelho and a gourmet lunch and dessert. I ordered the Singing Lake Duck Pie which had a crisp and flaky pastry and a rich merlot sauce. Dessert was a random drop of lemon tart, chocolate mud cake and key lime cheesecake. I had the latter and it was a gorgeously sweet and tart finish to the meal.

The tour began at 9.30am and concluded at around 5pm and cost only $85 per person, including lunch!! I would recommend going on one of these tours, as we really enjoyed being able to taste all the wine's we liked and not have to drive! Here are a few things we came away with! My favourite was definitely the Piramids Road Mistella, a sweet dessert wine which tasted like turkish delight!

My Mum and I had a really great time and I hope to organise another weekend getaway sometime this year. Stay tuned!